Summaries

Summaries

Przegląd Socjologiczny / Sociological Review 19/2, 213-222

SUMMARIES

JOZEF CH AL ASIN SKI

THE UNIVERSITY AND NATIONAL CULTURE

A voice in the discussion on the subject of universities. The author contends that the university serves a double purpose in modern society. It promotes

progress in sciences, which are ever increasingly international in their nature,

and it nurtures national culture. As an institution of national culture the univer­ sity grows in significance as the development of learning and technology transcends national boundaries.

ANTONINA KLOSKOWSKA

THE ACADEMIC AND THE POPULAR CONCEPT OF CULTURE

Concepts used in sociology, as in other social sciences, are often borrowed from or extended to the everyday language, but the identical terms are often accompanied by different meaning. This may cause misuanderstanding and hamper

the communication between research workers and respondents. Semantic analysis of the concepts used as research tools is often vital for the correct interpretation

of the findings.

The term ’’culture” is in current use in Poland. In a monographic study

carried out in a small town the author has analysed the meaning of that concept

as it emerged from the interview with scheduled questionnaire. The meaning

of this terms as used by the respondents has been compared with the meaning

of this concept accepted in sociology and cultural anthropology. In the academic use of the concept the broad anthropological meaning is distinguished from the

selective humanistic use of the term. On the other hand, evaluative and

non--evaluative approach must be distinguished.

In the population of the small town under study the selective and evaluative

use of the term predominated. Some significant difference has been found

between the opinions of men and women; e. g., women more often attached to this term an ethical meaning, while men more often linked the cultural oppor­

tunities with the possession of money.

The population of the town cannot be regarded as representative for the country as a whole, because the average level of education is lower, there are very few professional people and virtually no intellectuals among the population. But even here over 8O°/o of the respondents were familiar with the concept of culture and attached to it more or less definite meaning. The study is continued.

ZYGMUNT GOSTKOWSKI

SOME PROBLEMS OF TESTING THE VALIDITY OF RESEARCH

TECHNIQUES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Taking over modern American research techniques by sociologists in de­ veloping countries (both in the third world sphere and in Europe) entails

specific problems of their applicability to a quite different social reality to be investigated. Techniques like interviewing, scales, mailed questionnaires are

themselves a product of American social conditions with certain built-in ideolog­

ical and cultural underpinnings. They are based on the liberalistic concept of

a free opinion giving processes in a society under study, presuppose anonymity, lack of constraint, comparatively higher and uniform educational level and

popular acquaintance with the idea of filling-in forms, taking scales and evalua­ tive scorings. As such they may be valid in a society bearing these traits. But

where there is the general feeling of a rigid and ubiquitous state control as a dominant situational research factor, subjective anonimity hard to achieve, educational level much diversified, the population strongly suspitious or/and

hopeful about any ’’officially” sponsored activities like questioning or other data gathering — quite new problems confront the researcher. To cope with difficul­

ties engendered by rumors about research in a community, limited capacity to take scales of tests, differential reaction to the sex of interviewers, lack of anony­

mity feeling — certain genuine research techniques must be devised or far reaching modifications introduced into techniques borrowed from abroad. The general principle guiding the methodologist in realizing the programme of critical re-apraisal and inventing research techniques is to make research contacts as

close as possible to the normal cultural experiences of the population under in­ vestigation as well as to take into account the society’s ideas and expectations

concerning sociological research and the uses it is put to. It should be remem­ bered that the research techniques that run counter to the autentic cultural

experiences of the subjects will bring doubtful or misleading results.

ZDZISŁAWA GLlSClNSKA, ALEKSANDER KAMINSKI

THE BUDGET OF TIME OF THE STUDENTS LIVING IN A COLLEGE DORMITORY

The paper presents the results of the research made by the authors among

100 girl students at the University of Łódź. The informations were gathered by the method of self-observation and self-registration of daily activities during two weeks: one in December 1962, and one in May 1963. The main findings of the study are the following: the amount of time devoted to leisure in non exami­ national period (December) is only slightly lower than this devoted to learning in class and at home jointly. The first-year students, and those preparing their

master theses work more. Leisure time activities are mainly of mass culture

type (movies, reading of magazines and books, TV, radio listening, etc.). These

activities play an important role in the adjustment to city-life of the young women who lived before mainly in the country and in small towns. The social

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life is also consuming much of their time. During the average day the leisure

and learning activities are interlaced. In this respect the style of life of the group studied ressembles the style of life of many intellectuals and artists. The main value for many students is their work, they learn often with satisfaction.

Others represent more hedonistic attitude toward life. Their time budget reflects

nevertheless their ambition for a full participation in the type of culture consid­

ered higher than the type of culture in which they participated before.

KRYSTYNA LUTYNSKA

SOCIAL TYPOLOGY AND THE CAREERS OF OFFICE WORKERS IN ŁÓDŻ Immediately after the war in Poland as a result of social revolution there

were mass processes of promotion and degradation. The category of office

workers was filled by many people who before the war belonged to different classes and represented different cultural levels and traditions. For some of them,

office work, meant degradation, and for others — promotion. The article con­ centrates on two problems: what categories of office workers can be distin­ guished from this point of view and what is the social and professional position of these categories in Łódź in 1960.

The survey was carried out in Łódź in 1960—64. Following data were col­ lected: 2,617 individual cards (the representative sample of all clerks in Łódź), 525 interviews, 128 biographies and others. The data were statistically and quali­

tatively manipulated.

Five categories of office workers were distinguished based on various

development of life and occupation career. The first category is formed by

’’pre-war office workers” (22,1% of the sample). Not all of them have a complete secondary education, but they all differ from the others in length of experience,

They are now older people, many of whom hold responsible positions and have relatively high salaries.

The second category comprises ”after-war office workers, who have come

up in social ladder” (33,8% of the sample). These are people who before and

after the war were employed as manual workers. They all have only a primary

education and the work in the office was a step up in their life, especially just after the war. In the first period after the war they were in some respects

privileged, because they belonged to the working class and peasantry, and had

the task to change the Polish traditional intelligentsia. In the sample almost 80% of them are the children of workers, half of them have wives and husbands who are workers, they live in workers’ quarters and still have friends and daily contacts among working class people. In taking up office work, these people

frequently had many difficulties to contend with, both in the sphere of work and in social contacts. Although most of them succeeded in adapting themselves to

the work in office, in 1960 their profesional position and earnings were lower than other clerks.

The third category is formed by ”after-war office workers with completed secondary school in post-war Poland" (20,1% of the sample). They are the

youngest in the sample. Many of them have college education. Their professional

position and earnings are relatively high. This category represent the future of Polish office workers, because of the growing importance of education in office work now.

The fourth category form: ”after-war office workers, who have come down

in the social ladder” (5,2% of the sample). This category consists of people, who

before 1939 had a different job — for example: they were army officers, had land estates, shops, factories etc. — or who did not work at all (mostly women). After the war all these people started to work in offices, mostly not because they wanted to, but because they were forced by post-war circumstances to do

so. Inspite of this they all look upon themselves as belonging to the intelligentsia and their way of life, their ambitions etc. are typical of intelligentsia in the tradi­ tional sense of that term. Many of them, especially men, in 1960 held high posts

and had good salaries.

The fifth category comprises ’’other office workers” (18,8% of the sample). This category consists of all those post-war office workers, who started but did not finish secondary school. In comparison with others their professional position

and salaries are the lowest.

In post-war Poland bureaucracy was a ’’melting pot” filled up by the people belonging formerly to different intelectual and cultural levels, derived from

a wide range of classes and social strata. In the mass, office workers form a middle category, coming mid-way between the intelligentsia (in the sense of a separate socio-cultural stratum), and the working class. At the same time they

form a well-established hierarchy. The extremes of this hierarchy are widely

separated from each other and correspond to various categories in the whole society.

ZBIGNIEW BOKSZANSKI

WORKERS OF A BIG FACTORY IN LODZ AS READERS OF A HIGH LEVEL LITERATURE

First part of this article is devoted to general questions concerning the concept of high level literature and aims at creating its operational definition.

The culture of intellectual elite is not opposed to mass culture, instead the author

is trying to find the criteria permitting to separate high level culture among the contents of mass media.

The socond part of the article contains a research report. About 25 worker­

readers of high level literature were interviewed. Every respondent was asked to give information about his social position and ’’participation in culture”. Almost all workers who were reading novels by Faulkner, Caldwell, Proust, Kafka, Camus

and others have chosen such authors completely accidentally. Moreover they did

not distinguish between high level literature and literature of the lower levels.

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BRONISŁAW GOŁĘBIOWSKI

THE HISTORICAL PROCESS OF THE PEASANT CLASS OF POLAND The author gives an analysis of the peasants’ identification with the nation

as it evolved through successive generations, beginning with the final years of the 18th century and up to the modern times. On the basis of peasant memoirs, the author breaks up the period into the following generations.

1. The generation born between 1791 and 1830 was in its supremacy in the

thirty years between 1831 and 1860, a time characterized by spontaneous peasant revolts (as for example the 1848 peasant insurrection in Galicia led by Szela) and by the rise of pro-peasant parties and ideologies under conditions of national

bondage and insurrections of national liberation.

2. The generation born between 1831 and 1860. The generation came into

its supremacy chiefly in the years between 1861 and 1890, a period noted for the completion of the programme of land grants in the rural area (1865), the rising momentum in accumulation of capital, growth of industry and the rise of a pro­

letariat employed by large industry chiefly from the peasant stratum, the expansion of the market and the initial symptoms of the social stratification of the rural area. These years marked the rise of a press for the peasants, of folk societies, the emergence of the early phase of the social and educational peasant movement as well as of peasant writings and memoirs.

3. The generation born between 1861 and 1890 did not remember the feudal

servitude. It was the first peasant generation to be born free. It grew up in an

atmosphere of comparative post-feudal prosperity, in a period when the peasants were still a little giddy with the joy of possession, with the land and with personal freedom. The generation produced the first organized political peasant movement

(the first peasant party was founded in 1895) and a decidedly anti-feudal peasant

ideology that emphasized the value of peasant culture to national culture. At the sam time a greater class difference was noted within the peasant population.

It was expressed by the multifaceted and contradictory nature of the peasant poli­

tical movement and by the personality and career of J. Stapiński and W. Witos,

the leaders typical to the movement who left memoirs The years of this genera­

tion’s supremacy were tempestuous. They were distinguished for progress in

industrialization and the first social revolution in Poland (e. g. 1905) at the

juncture of the 19th and the 20th centuries.

4. The generation born between 1891 and 1915 grew up under the influence

of the processes that prevailed at the juncture of the 19th and the 20th centuries.

The generation attained its supremacy at the time of the Frist World War and

of Poland’s independence restored after 150 years of national bondage (19191. The regained independence inspired the generation with hope and with economic,

material, social and political aspirations. These hopes were dampened by the eco­

nomic depression of 1920—1931 which turned the peasant masses toward radical ideas, strikes, insurrections and others. Rural poverty and over-population as well as the complete dependence of peasant economy on the capitalistic market and

on a system that exploited the peasant, the proletariazation of the rural areas

and others that took place under conditions of rising material, civic and cultural

aspirations of the generation, all these factors were responsible for the resultant social contradictions noted in the rural area in thetwenty years between the wars.

against the Nazi authorities of occupation and from 1944 to 1948 played an active role as the creator of a new system in postwar Poland.

5. The generation born between 1916 and 1940 attained its maturity (the

oldest groups) in the period of the occupation and principally after the war in People’s Poland. The generation is now in the supremacy. It gave shape to the

basic transformations that occurred in the twenty postwar years in the rural area

and in the country. In that period a large proportion of the generation left the

rural area for the cities and industry and other trades and professions. It is a generation that witnessed intensive socialist industrialization and a swift trans­

formation of the peasant class that was effected by professional and cultural

advancement principally in the urban area and in non-agricultural trades in the

rural area as well as by the modernization of agriculture.

6. The generation born between 1941 and the present has not yet passed the adolescent phase. The generation is notable for the fact that it was brought up entirely under the social, political and cultural system that prevails in People’s

Poland.

This study is based on the principles of analysis of cultural processes which

had been formulated by Polish sociologist Stefan Czarnowski and by the Polish school of humanistic sociology which leans on personal documents in its cultural analyses (F. Znaniecki, J. Chałasiński).

ZBIGNIEW TYSZKA

RESEARCH ON CHANGES IN FAMILY IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED REGION OF KONIN

Researches, which are to help the author to complete his monography, concern mainly the subject of the family sociology, however they are essential to urban sociology, rural sociology and also to working class sociology.

Following problems are considered: 1) The changes of existing conditions of family connectedwith the broad social-economical processes and their influence

on the remaining sphere of family life; 2) the changes of cultural condi­ tions in existence of family; 3) the changes in the family structure and its

functions; 4) the changes of patterns and values regulating life and co-existence of family and also the changes of relation between the family and other structural elements of society.

KAZIMIERZ SŁOMCZYŃSKI

FROM THE STUDIES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE

The main purpose of the study made by the author under the direction

of docent dr. Z. Gostkowski was to compare the answers to identical questions

in two situations: in the formal, standardized interview, and in the informal con­ versation. Forty persons, all the author’s personal acquaintances, were selected

as respondents in formal interviews, and in informal conversations with the author as well. They all were white collar workers or professionals. The questions

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asked were opinion questions used several recent surveys in Poland. 16 respond­

ents gave different answers in two interviews: 6 of them in response to 1 ques­

tion, 2 — to two questions, 1 — to three questions, and 7 — to all four questions which were analyzed. In the informal conversation respondents made also com­

ments concerning their answers in formal interviews. Some of them described those answers as ’’insincere”, ’’stereotyped”, etc. The divergent answers were more often given by respondents who considered sociology as an applied study used by various governmental agencies in their activities. Some of those respond­ ents admitted that they were anxious about the possible practical consequences

of their answers for them personally or for the social group they belonged to. Not all divergences, however, can be explained in this way. The data gathered will be further analyzed by the author.

EWA JES1ONOWSKA

NEWSPAPER FEUILLETON AS AN ELEMENT OF MASS CULTURE

IN POLAND

40 out of 44 Polish daylies devoted their feuilleton in 1962 to the publication

of novels. In all 82 novels were printed during this year in installments. Half

of them were detective stories and nearly Vs war stories. Most of the novels were of sensational character. Content analysis dealt especially with the problem of Violence in these stories. It was found that in 47 novels of declared sensational character 158 acts of violence have been presented to the readers, i. e. 3,3 cases per novel of 80 installment in average. It is much less than. e. g. in British or

American TV programme of the sensational character. Nevertheless detective

stories published in newspaper feuilleton represent the main source of sensational contentsin the mass media in Poland.

This study represents a part of a research project carried out by the Chair

of the History of Sociology of the University of Łódź.

SOCIOLOGY IN POLAND

JAN STANISŁAW BYSTROŃ 1892—1964

In the history of Polish social sciences of the twenty years between the two

world wars, Bystroń has made noteworthy contributions both by his extensive writings and by the memory that remains after him in academic circles. He was

successively a professor at the University of Poznań from 1919 to 1924, at the Jagiellonian University from 1925 to 1934 and at the University of Warsaw from 1934 on. For the last twenty years of his life an incurable disease barred him

from academic and scholarly work.

The last written work by Bystroń, entitled Etnografia Polska (Polish Ethno­

ethnography. These were Słowiańskie obrzędy rodzinne (Slavic Family Rites),

puhlished in 1916 and Zwyczaje żniwiarskie (Harvesting Customs), published in

1916. Even at that time Bystroh’s ethnographic interests went hand in hand with sociology. Evidence is provided by his work, entitled Rozwój problemu socjolo­

gicznego w nauce polskiej (Development of Sociological Problems in Polish Science), published in 1917 and earlier by Rozwój demograficzny dzielnic Kra­ kowa (Demographic Development of the Districts of Cracow), published in ’’Eko­

nomista” in 1915.

Bystroh’s wide activity in the field of publication was not restricted to ethnography and sociology. In point of illustration we list the following: Pieśni

ludu polskiego (Songs of the Polish People), 1924; Wstęp do ludoznawstwa polskie­

go (Introduction to Polish Ethnography), 1926; Nazwiska polskie (Polish Family Names), 1927; Szkoła i społeczeństwo (School and Society), 1930; Dzieje obyczajów w dawnej Polsce (History of Customs in Early Poland), 1932; Przysłowia polskie (Polish Proverbs), 1933; Szkoła jako zjawisko społeczne (School as a Social Pheno­

menon), 1934; Megalomania narodowa (National Megalomania), 1936; (Kultura lu­

dowa (Folk Culture), 1936; Publiczność literacka (Literary Public), 1938; Komizm (Comism), 1939.

POLISH SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The 3rd Congress of Polish Sociologists, first since the war, was held in

Warsaw 2 — 6 February 1965 with the participation of 270 members of seven

regional sections of the Polish Sociological Association and of numerous guests. The plenary session was opened by the president of PSA, professor Nina Asso- rodobraj and was greeted by professor Adam Schaff as the chairman of the Committee of Philosophy and Sociology.

Seven papers were read in the plenary sessions, namely: J. Szczepański,

Sociological Aspects of Industrialization in People’s Poland; S. Nowakowski, Urbanization in Poland in the Post-war Period; and J. Ziółkowski, The Place and

the Role of Urbanization in the Social Transformations of People’s Poland; B. Ga-łęski, The Peasants and the Farmers — Social Changes in the Polish Country; A. Kloskowska, The Development of Mass Culture in People’s Poland; K. Doktór, M. Hirszowicz, J. Kulpińska, A. Matejko, The Development of the Socialist Model of Industrial Relations; W. Wesolowski, J. Wiatr, The Formation of the Political Institutions of People’s Poland.

After the plenary sessions the participants of the Congress worked in six sections: the section of the sociological problems of industrialization, of urbaniza­ tion, of rural sociology, of the sociology of culture, of industrial sociology and of the sociology of political relations.

POLISH SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY

At the beginning of 1965 the total membership was 441. Out of this number: Warsaw Section 207, Łódź Section 49, Poznań Section 60, Cracow Section 50, Lublin

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THE TEACHING OF SOCIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ŁODŻ

The programme of studies in the Department of Sociology of Work, which forms now a part of the Faculty of Economics and Sociology, concentrates on the problems of industrial sociology. Some students may specialize in other fields, especially in the sociology of culture. The specialization begins with the fourth year of teaching. During former years the students attend more general courses and

seminars, among others in General Sociology,'History of Sociology and Social Thought, Methods of Social Researches, and Social Psychology. The monographic

sociological courses play also an important role in the teaching. In comparison with sociological studies at other Polish universities the teaching of sociology in Łódź is more specialized, the whole programme aims at the formation of sociol­ ogists who could work in industry, in various social and cultural institutions and organizations, etc.

During the academic years 1961/1962 — 1964/1965 more than 30 freshmen were admitted every year. In 1965 their number amounted to 50. In this year there were about 200 candidates who wanted to study sociology at the University of Łódź.

There are four chairs at the Department: Chair of General Sociology, headed by docent Dr. W. Wesolowski (till 1964 — by docent Dr. M. Hirszowicz), the Chair of Sociology of Work (formerly the Chair of Sociology of Industry) headed by Prof. Dr. J. Szczepański, the Chair of History of Sociology and Social Thought (docent Dr. A. Kloskowska), and the Chair of Sociography (docent

Dr. J. Lutyński). Besides them 8 other full time staff members took part in

teaching in year 1964/1965, three of them with doctor degree. Some courses in

sociology were taught also by part time workers, among them by docent Dr. Z.

Gostkowski (in Social Psychology), docent Dr. J. Kądzielski, and others. Short

general courses in General Sociology are given also at other departments of the

University (economic, law, philologies) All students of sociology at the University of Łódź participate in the research carried out by the staff. Their master disserta­ tions are mostly based on empirical research. An important orle in sociological teaching — and research as well — is played by the Library of the Department.

It comprises more than 40,000 volumes, many of them in foreign languages. The Library obtains them now mainly from abroad as gifts and in exchange for ’’Przegląd Socjologiczny”.

FIELD RESEARCHES IN BEŁCHATÓW OF THE ŁÓDŻ UNIVERSITY SOCIOLOGICAL CENTRE

Bełchatów is a small town of about 8,000 inhabitants in Łódź Voivodship,

only partly industrialized. Ih future it will be the centre of the new industrial

region based on brown coal. The researches conducted there by the sociologists from Łódź began in 1963. They are sponsored by the University of Łódź and the

Committee of the Research on the Regions in the Process of Industrialization of

the Polish Academy of Sciences. The aim of the study is to present two socio­ logical monographs of the town: before and after industrialization. In the study many aspects of social life of the community in question are taken into account: its ecological structure, social structure and different strata of population, family

life, social relations in existing industrial plant, the role of the plant in the com­ munity life, influence of mass media, cultural life, etc. The data are gathered

mainly by students during the vacations. In this way students under the super­

vision of scientific workers become practically acquainted with the techniques of

research. In 1963—1965 more than 2 thousand interviews, both structured and unstructured were made, many observations gathered, available documents ana­

lyzed. Besides the monograph two doctoral, and several master dissertations are based on those materials. The field workers are very well received by the inhab­ itants, who willingly participate in the researches.

A CONFERENCE OF THE POLISH URBAN SOCIOLOGISTS

In November 1964 a Conference on sociological problems of towns and cities was organized by the Centre of Urban Sociology of the Institute of Philosophy

and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Besides sociologists many other specialists (economists, town planners, geographers) participated in the conference.

A CONFERENCE ON THE SOCIAL ROLE AND POSITION OF WOMEN

The conference was organized in March 1965 by the Polish women organiza­ tion The League of Women with the participation of specialists in sociology, economy, psychology, medicinie law and pedagogy. It was attended by the

representatives of different social institutions and organizations. The conference worked in two sections', the section of women at work presided over by Jerzy Piotrowski and the section of women in the family presided by Antonina Klos-

kowska.

Some of the papers read in the first section were: M. Sokołowska, Sex as

a Determinant of the Attitude Towards Work; A. Preiss-Zajdowa, The Situation at Work of Women with Higher Education; S. Dzięcielska-Machnikowska and J. Kulpińska, The Social Position of Women on Executive Posts in the Textile Industry of Łódź. Some of the papers presented during the sessions of the second

section are: D. Galaj and B. Tryfan, The Changes in the Role and Position of Women in Peasant Families; A. Kurzynowski, Family Situation and the Work of Married Women; H. Strzemińska, Home and Work in the Time-Budget of Working Women.

A CONFERENCE ON THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF MUSIC

A conference devoted to the social functions of music was organized in April 1965 by the Higher School for Music in Cracow. Eight papers concerning

different aspects of music in relation to society were read. The aim of the con­

ference has been to promote co-operation between theoreticiens of music and specialists of the social sciences: sociologists, psychologists and specialists in pedagogy.

MODERN TRENDS IN THE RESEARCHES IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIOLOGY

The communication presents the review of modern tendencies in industrial

sociology. It is based on the intruthystcry article in ’’Current Sociology. Industrial